An Examination of the Factors Affecting Organizational Citizenship Behavior

By Liz Dickinson Departmental Honors Thesis The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Accounting

Project Director: Dr. Stan Davis Examination Date: March 27, 2009

Dr. Kathleen Wheatley Dr. Joanie Sompayrac Ms. Beverly Simmons

Examining Committee Signatures:

_______________________________________________________ Project Director _______________________________________________________ Department Examiner _______________________________________________________ Department Examiner ______________________________________________________ Liaison, Departmental Honors Committee _______________________________________________________ Chairperson, University Departmental Honors Committee

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An Examination of the Factors Affecting Organizational Citizenship Behavior

ABSTRACT

This study examines how various employee attitudinal variables influence organizational citizenship behavior. These attitudinal variables include job satisfaction, relationship with supervisor, fairness perceptions, organizational commitment, job stress, and stress outside the workplace. The data was drawn from 269 employees from a small bank located in the Midwestern United States. The results found support for three hypotheses stating that there is a positive relationship between relationship with supervisor, organizational commitment, job stress, and organizational citizenship behavior. The results did not find support for three hypotheses stating that there is a relationship between job satisfaction, fairness perceptions, stress outside the workplace, and organizational citizenship behavior.

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I. II.

INTRODUCTION, p. 4 LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT, p. 6

III. IV. V. VI. VII.

METHOD, p. 22 RESULTS, p. 24 DISCUSSION, p. 27 IMPLICATIONS, p. 31 LIMITATIONS, p. 32

VIII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH, p. 33 IX. X. XI. REFERENCES, p. 35 APPENDIX, p. 37 TABLES, p. 42-43

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I. INTRODUCTION

Previous research has explored the relationship between employee attitudinal variables and organizational citizenship behavior. Organizational citizenship behavior can be defined as individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization (Organ 1988, p. 4). It is essentially the actions employees take that are above and beyond what is expected of them, and which do not give them any explicit reward. Research has shown that organizational citizenship behavior helps maximize the organizational performance of companies (Podsakoff et al., 2000). Since this is the goal of every organization, it benefits managers to understand how various variables affect organizational citizenship behavior. This understanding can help managers assess what kind of environment to provide their employees, and also what motivates and satisfies them. Although the relationships between many employee attitudinal variables and organizational citizenship behavior have been previously researched (Erturk, 2007), for the current research project we have selected a unique combination of the previously studied employee attitudinal variables. These include job satisfaction, relationship with supervisor, fairness perceptions, organizational commitment, job stress, and stress outside the workplace. Consistent with those previous studies (Erturk, 2007), we employ the survey method to test for these findings in a small bank located in the Midwestern United

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States. The motivation of the study is to extend the current literature on organizational citizenship behavior by examining employee attitudinal variables as they relate to the employees who work in the bank located in the Midwestern United States, and by adding a previously unstudied variable, home stress, to our examination. Previous research has shown a positive relationship between job stress and organizational citizenship behavior (Bolino & Turnley, 2005). Instead of only looking at how organizational citizenship behavior affects job stress, we want to also examine how stress outside the workplace affects extra-role behavior at work. While the previous research examines how extra-role behavior impacts job stress, we reverse that to see if stress unrelated to the job has an effect on organizational citizenship behavior. Therefore, in addition to using this specific combination of employee attitudinal variables in a different setting than previously studied, we hope to add to the current body of literature on organizational citizenship behavior by adding an additional exploratory hypothesis involving stress outside the workplace. The organization for the remainder of this paper is as follows: The next section discusses the relevant literature relating the employee attitudinal variables and organizational citizenship behavior, and is followed by the hypotheses development. The third section describes the studys method and the fourth section describes the results of the research. The final section includes a discussion of the results, implications of the study, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research.

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II. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION

The relationship between an employees satisfaction with the organization and organizational citizenship behavior

A recent study explores the existing relationship between antecedents that contribute to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and also the consequences of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Ghazzawi, 2008). Ghazzawi bases his paper on prior research in hopes of further explaining the effect job satisfaction has on people in the workplace. One of the consequences of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction that Ghazzawi examines is organizational citizenship behavior. Based on his analytic review of studies performed by Organ and Ryan (1995), the results show that organizational citizenship behavior is a consequence of job satisfaction.

The relationship between an employee and their supervisor and organizational citizenship behavior

The relationship between transformational leadership, task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors of followers

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A recent study defines transformational leadership as, Articulating a compelling vision of the future of an organization; offering a model consistent with that vision; fostering the acceptance of group goals; and providing individualized support, intellectual stimulation, and high performance expectations (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005, p. 420-421). Their study tested employees in a major organization located in northern China, and gave separate questionnaires to the employees and their supervisors. They expected to find a positive relationship between task performance and transformational leadership, because when a follower has a transformational leader, the follower begins to feel a sense of pride from being a part of the larger organization, and therefore feels that the work they produce adds to the organization as a whole. In their study they also expected to find a positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Because transformational leaders encourage followers to internalize the collective vision of the organization, one would expect that this sense of having a larger collective cause would also motivate them to try to achieve those goals by going above what is expected of them. The results of their study show that transformational leadership

is positively related to both task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors of followers. This shows that since transformational leaders emphasize the importance of a unifying vision for the organization and link the followers selfconcept to this vision, the employees are more likely to exhibit better task performance. It also shows that the employees are likely to make extra contributions

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to the company outside of their specific job description because they are motivated to achieve the collective vision of the company and do not expect an immediate reward for their behavior (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005).

The relationship between leader-member exchange, task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors of followers

The recent study by Chen et al. (2005) also looks at leader-member exchange and how it relates to task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leader-member exchange theory involves the reciprocal social exchanges that occur between leader and follower. The leader conveys to their followers expectations as to what roles they are expected to perform, and the followers also have role expectations of their leader involving how they expect their leader to treat them. These expectations lead to a series of exchanges between the leader and follower known as the leader-member exchange. In Chen et al.s study, they expect that leader-member exchange will be positively related to task performance, because task performance is the way that the follower fulfills the obligation of reciprocity (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005). In addition, they also expect that leader-member exchange will be positively related to organizational citizenship behaviors. This is because, like task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors are another way that followers fulfill their reciprocity obligations (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005). The study,

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as mentioned previously, took place in a major organization located in northern China. The results found support that the quality of leader-member exchange relates positively to the task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors of followers. The results of this study also show that leader-member exchange mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and followers task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. This implies that transformational leadership influences performance through social exchanges between the leader and subordinate. The overall results of this study show that transformational leadership behaviors are social currency and nourish a high-level leader-member exchange. They also show that transformational leadership is associated positively with task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Transformational leaders increase follower receptiveness to role-expanding offers and extra behavior by enabling them to personally identify themselves with the organization, and leader-member exchange makes transformational leadership more meaningful to followers (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005). Similarly, Brandes, Dharwadkar & Wheatley (2004) also expected that a higher-quality exchange between the employees and their supervisor would result in organizational citizenship behavior. This study directly tested whether the relationship with a supervisor is positively related to employees work performance (Brandes, Dharwadkar & Wheatley, 2004). The results of the study showed that social exchanges with supervisors were directly related to extra-role behavior. This is

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because employees who have a good relationship with their supervisor will want to continue their strong relationship, and will do this by reciprocating their supervisors behavior. Since the supervisor has the power over the employee and oftentimes has access to resources employees would like, they reciprocate the time their supervisor gives them by performing extra-role behavior (Brandes, Dharwadkar & Wheatley, 2004).

The relationship between transformational leadership and core job characteristics

While research has already shown the effects of transformational leadership on organizational citizenship behavior and task performance, a recent study investigated the specific mechanisms that explain those effects. The mechanism that they suggest explains the effects of transformational leaders is rooted in core job characteristics (Colquitt & Piccolo, 2006). In 1976, Hackman and Oldman introduced the job characteristics theory to explain situations where employees will be motivated while doing a job. According to the theory, enhancing five dimensions of jobs will encourage positive work attitudes. These job dimensions are: variety (the degree that a job requires the use of a number of different skills), identity (the degree to which the job requires completion of an entire piece of work with a visible outcome), significance (the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on other people), autonomy (the degree to which the job provides substantial freedom), and feedback (the degree to which the job provides

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clear information about performance levels) (Colquitt & Piccolo, 2006). They go on to state that transformational leaders can influence the way employees perceive their core job characteristics, and therefore believe that transformational leadership is positively related to follower perceptions of core job characteristics. Based on comprehensive summaries of literature on job characteristics theory, Colquitt and Piccolo also believe that jobs that are more challenging and important are more intrinsically motivating. Because of this, they believe that follower perceptions of core job characteristics are positively related to follower intrinsic motivation. They also believe that intrinsic motivation and organizational citizenship behaviors are related. They think this because people who exhibit organizational citizenship behavior are likely to align work values with their intrinsic values. Since such behavior is not formally rewarded in the way that required job behavior is rewarded, it can be assumed that the motivation for such behavior is intrinsic. They therefore suggest that follower intrinsic motivation is positively related to follower task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (Colquitt & Piccolo, 2006). To summarize the goal of this research, they propose that the relationship between transformational leadership and beneficial job behaviors (which includes task performance and organizational citizenship behavior) is mediated by perception of core job characteristics, which are related to intrinsic motivation (Colquitt & Piccolo, 2006). They tested 283 people from a cross-section of job types (such as administration/support, web design and computer networking).

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The results support each of the previously mentioned hypotheses. These results show that good leaders produced followers who felt that they had high levels of the five job characteristics previously discussed. This is important because these characteristics are also related to intrinsic motivation, which is essential because previous research has shown that people who have this trait are more effective employees. The results of this study create a model that enables an understanding of how job characteristics theory can help explain the relationship between transformational leadership and positive outcomes.

The relationship between an employees fairness perceptions and organizational citizenship behavior

Organizational justice refers to the role of fairness as it relates to the workplace. It involves the ways employees decide if they are being treated fairly at their jobs, and the way this decision affects their work behavior (Moorman, 1991). There are two commonly researched forms of organizational justice: distributive justice and procedural justice. Distributive justice describes the fairness of the outcomes an employee gets and procedural justice describes how fair the procedures are that determine the outcomes they get. Procedural justice consists of two factors: formal procedures and interactional justice. Formal procedures involve whether an organizations uses fair procedures, like for example, whether the organization tries to be consistent with their procedures.

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The second component of procedural justice is interactional justice. This embodies the idea that perceptions of procedural justice can stem from an organizations procedures and the way they carry those procedures out (Moorman, 1991). Interactional justice is an important component of procedural justice because it has been found that when managers take actions within their organization, the way they enact and explain their decision plays a key role in determining if procedural justice exists (Bies, 1987). Organ (1990) suggests that fairness perceptions play a big role in creating organizational citizenship behaviors. The basis behind this theory is the idea that if employees perceive that they are being treated fairly, they will want to reciprocate the fair treatment that their organization offers them. He also goes further to explain why fairness perceptions could be related to organizational citizenship behaviors. He points out that if employees perceive something to be unfair in the workplace, they will be more likely to change their organizational citizenship behaviors in response to the inequity, because this is safer than changing the behavior of what their job formally requires of them (Organ, 1988b). A previous study investigated the relationship between fairness perceptions and organizational citizenship behavior (Moorman, 1991). In his study, Moorman used causal modeling to assess causal paths from justice perceptions to organizational citizenship behavior. The main goal of the study was to test the relationship between perceptions of organizational justice, in the form of distributive and procedural justice, and organizational citizenship behavior (Moorman, 1991). The sample tested

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in the study included employees of two medium-sized companies located in the Midwestern United States. They found support for a causal relationship between procedural justice and organizational citizenship behavior, but perceptions of distributive justice were not found to influence organizational citizenship behavior. Specifically, the results suggest that the relationship between interactional justice, which is a dimension of procedural justice, and organizational citizenship behavior show the strongest correlation. This supports Organs theory (1990) that employees who perceive unfairness might lessen their extra-role behavior, while on the other hand employees who perceive fairness will want to contribute more to their organization. Additionally, when employees feel that their company is managed fairly, they are more likely to view citizenship behavior as an appropriate part of the social exchange (Moorman, 1991).

The relationship between an employees organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior

A previous study defines organizational commitment as the psychological attachment felt by the person for the organization that reflects the degree to which the individual internalizes or adopts characteristics or perspectives of the organization (OReilly III & Chatman, 1986). In their study, they determine the basis for a

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persons psychological attachment to their organization to be based on three foundations that were developed by Kelman (1958). These three foundations represent three conceptually distinct ways that employees can accept influence: 1. Compliance or exchange: Occurs when attitudes and behaviors are adopted not because of shared beliefs, but to gain specific rewards. 2. Identification or affiliation: Occurs when an individual accepts influence to establish or maintain a satisfying relationship. For example, individuals will feel proud to be a part of a group, will respect its values, but not adopt them as their own. 3. Internalization or value congruence: Occurs when the values of the individual and the organization are the same (Kelman 1958). In their study, they predict that identification and internalization, the second and third previously discussed ways people can form a psychological attachment to their organization, will be positively related to organizational citizenship behaviors (OReilly III & Chatman, 1986). They did two studies to look at the relationship between the dimensions of commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors. One involved 82 university employees, and the other involved 162 business students, which included both undergraduate and MBA level students. The results show support for their hypothesis that there is a strong correlation between commitment that is based on internalization and identification, and organizational citizenship behaviors (OReilly III & Chatman, 1986).

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The relationship between job stress, work-family conflict and organizational citizenship behavior

A recent study investigated the relationship between job stress, work-family conflict and organizational citizenship behavior. In their study, they anticipate that when an employee participates in extra-role behavior above and beyond what is expected of them, this will lead to more stress (Bolino & Turnley, 2005). The study also examined how nonwork roles, such as family, affect the employees life. Work-family conflict can be defined as a type of role conflict where demands at work interfere with family demands (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). When employees put more time in at work, they will have less time to spend with their families. Therefore, it is possible that employees who participate in organizational citizenship behaviors for their organization are less likely to be able to fulfill their family obligation of being a good parent or spouse (Bolino & Turnley, 2005). For their study, they sent packets with two surveys in each to 722 alumni of a medium-sized private university in the Midwestern United States. The alumni were asked to complete one of the surveys and their spouses were asked to complete the other. They received matching data from 98 of the couples. The results showed that organizational citizenship behavior is positively related to both job stress and work-family conflict. These results show how participating in organizational citizenship behavior can have a negative affect on the well-being of employees outside of work.

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Hypothesis Development

The first five hypotheses we present are replications of previous research studies that will be studied in a service industry setting. The sixth hypothesis is an exploratory hypothesis involving stress outside the workplace. The hypotheses are presented as follows. Results from the prior meta-analysis previously discussed show that an employees job satisfaction is positively related to organizational citizenship behaviors (Ghazzawi, 2008). While the purpose of the meta-analysis was to contribute to existing literature by analyzing existing relationships between extra-role behavior and job satisfaction, a limitation to Ghazzawis study is that instead of creating a new study to support his conclusion, he based his conclusion on preexisting research alone (Ghazzawi, 2008). Because of this, it will be helpful to test the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior by collecting new data, rather than looking to previous research. Therefore, we offer the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: An employees satisfaction with the organization is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior.

Results from prior research also indicate that transformational leadership is positively related to both task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors

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of followers. It also shows that the employees are likely to make extra contributions to the company outside of their specific job description because they are motivated to achieve the collective vision of the company and do not expect an immediate reward for their behavior (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005). The study also looks at leader-member exchange and how it relates to task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. The results supported that leader-member exchange relates positively to the task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors of followers (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005). Like the study just discussed, the members of another study also expected that a higher-quality exchange between the employee and their supervisor would result in more organizational citizenship behavior. This study directly tested whether the relationship with a supervisor is positively related to employees work performance. The results of the test showed that social exchanges with supervisors were directly related to extra-role behavior (Brandes, Dharwadkar & Wheatley, 2004). Therefore, based on this prior research, we would expect that an employees relationship with his or her supervisor would be positively related to extra-role behavior. We will replicate this previous study in a service industry setting, and suggest the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2: An employees positive relationship with his or her supervisor is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior.

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Results from prior research also investigated the relationship between fairness perceptions, specifically interactional justice, and organizational citizenship behavior (Moorman, 1991). The main goal of the study was to test for a causal path from justice perceptions to extra-role behavior. The sample tested in the study included employees of two medium-sized companies located in the Midwestern United States. One of the companies applies coatings, such as paints, to rolled steel, and the other company manufactures the paints and coatings used. The results of the study found support for a causal relationship between fairness perceptions and organizational citizenship behavior. We plan to test for these findings in a different research setting. We will test for the relationship between fairness perceptions, specifically interactional justice, and organizational citizenship behavior in a community bank setting, rather than a manufacturing company, and suggest the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3: An employees fairness perceptions are positively related to organizational citizenship behavior.

Results from prior research previously discussed also investigated the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior (OReilly III & Chatman, 1986). In the current research, we will test for this relationship in a community bank setting, rather than an academic setting, and offer the following hypothesis:

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Hypothesis 4: An employees organizational commitment is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior.

Results from the prior research discussed also show that employees who participate in more organizational citizenship behaviors are more likely to have job stress and work-family conflict. In the previous research, they tested for the relationship between job stress and extra role behavior using a sample of alumni from a medium sized private university. We will test this previous finding in our current research, but change the setting to the service industry setting, and offer the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 5: An employees job stress is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior.

Additionally, instead of just looking at how organizational citizenship behavior affects job stress and work-family conflict, we want to examine how stress outside the workplace affects extra-role behavior at work. Therefore, while the previous research looked at how extra-role behavior impacts job stress, we will reverse that to see if stress unrelated to the job has an effect on organizational citizenship behavior.

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We are testing competing hypotheses to see whether stress outside the workplace either increases or decreases organizational citizenship behavior. If an employee is experiencing lots of stress at home, this may cause them to spend more time at work to escape their stressful home life, which could in turn increase extra role behavior. On the other hand, an employees stress at home could also cause them to spend less time at work because they find themselves putting most of their time and effort into trying to resolve their difficult home situation, which in turn could decrease extra role behavior. Therefore, we propose the following exploratory hypotheses:

Hypothesis 6A: Stress outside the workplace is positively related to organizational citizenship behaviors. Hypothesis 6B: Stress outside the workplace is negatively related to organizational citizenship behaviors.

Adding the outside stress construct to the research will add to the existing body of literature addressing organizational citizenship behavior because it will test for stress outside the workplace in conjunction with previously tested factors, such as job satisfaction, relationship with supervisor, and fairness perceptions. This will provide a unique combination of factors affecting organizational citizenship behaviors that have not been previously studied together.

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III. METHOD

Sample and Procedure

Data used for testing our hypotheses were acquired from a consulting firm that routinely conducts employee attitudinal and satisfaction surveys with its clients. The responses used for this paper were from employees of a small bank in the Midwestern United States. The survey was administered to the employees using an online survey. Out of the approximate 300 people at the bank, 269 employees responded to the survey.

Measures

The following measures consist of Likert scale items ranging from 1, strongly disagree, to 7, strongly agree. All items from the survey can be found in the Appendix.

Job Satisfaction. Job satisfaction measures were taken from Scarpello and Campbell (1983).

Relationship with Supervisor. For the current study, we used questions that were part of the consulting firms regular set of questions, and not part of a validated

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scale. For the purpose of analyzing the results, we used only one of the consulting firms regular set of questions in the regression analysis that captures the desired measure.

Organizational Justice. Items that show employee perceptions of procedural fairness and distributive fairness were used from Moormans (1991) measure of organizational justice. For the current study, we used three interactional justice measures from that scale.

Organizational Commitment. Items were taken from OReilly and Chatmans (1986) measure of organizational commitment.

Job Stress and Stress Outside the Workplace. Items that measure stress were measured using two one-item questions adapted from Motowidlo et al. (1986).

Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Items that measure organizational citizenship behavior were used from Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman and Fetters (1990) measure of organizational citizenship behavior. Four types of organizational citizenship behaviors, described by Organ (1988a), were used in the study: -Conscientiousness: Discretionary behaviors on the part of the employee that go well beyond the minimum role requirements of the organization, in the areas of attendance, obeying rules and regulations, taking breaks, and so forth.

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-Civic Virtue: Behavior on the part of an individual that indicates that he/she responsibly participates in, is involved in, or is concerned about the life of the company. -Courtesy: Discretionary behavior on the part of an individual aimed at preventing work-related problems with others from occurring. -Altruism: Discretionary behaviors that have the effect of helping a specific other person with an organizationally relevant task or problem (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman & Fetter, 1990). The definitions just given were then used to create questions for each category of organizational citizenship behavior. For the current study, we used the questions generated by their 1990 study.

IV. RESULTS

Table 1 presents correlations for job satisfaction, relationship with supervisor, interactional justice, stress at home, job stress, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior. The results show that job satisfaction is significantly correlated with organizational citizenship behavior in the positive direction, relationship with supervisor is significantly correlated with organizational citizenship behavior in the positive direction, interactional justice is significantly correlated with organizational citizenship behavior in the positive direction, and organizational commitment is significantly correlated with organizational citizenship

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behavior in the positive direction. The results show that stress at home is not significantly correlated with organizational citizenship behavior, and that job stress is not significantly correlated with organizational citizenship behavior.

(Insert Table 1 here)

Table 2 presents regression results. The results show that there is not a significant relationship between job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior, and therefore do not support Hypothesis 1, which states that job satisfaction is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior. The findings shown in Table 2 also show that there is a positive relationship between the employees relationship with their supervisor and organizational citizenship behavior, which supports Hypothesis 2. The findings in Table 2 also show that there is a significant, but negative relationship between interactional justice and organizational citizenship behavior. This does not Hypothesis 3, which states that an employees fairness perceptions (as measured by interactional justice) are positively related to organizational citizenship behavior. The findings also show that there is a positive relationship between organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, which supports Hypothesis 4.

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Hypothesis 5 states that there is a positive relationship between job stress and organizational citizenship behavior, and the results in Table 2 support this hypothesis. Lastly, the results show that there is not a significant relationship between stress at home and organizational citizenship behavior, which does not support Hypothesis 6A and 6B.

(Insert Table 2 here)

Controls

To provide additional information as to whether or not the length of time employees work at the bank has any impact on the significance of the various employee attitudinal variables, we also ran a regression that first included employees who had been at the company for three years or less. The results are shown in Table 2, with Model 2 representing the results for employees who have been at the company three years or less. As can be seen from the table, the only significant employee attitudinal variable for employees who had been at the company for three years or less is organizational commitment. Lastly, we ran a regression that only included employees who had been there more than three years. The results can be seen in Table 2, with Model 3 showing the results for employees who have been at the company for more than three years. As can be seen from the table, relationship with supervisor, organizational commitment,

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job stress, and interactional justice are all significant for employees who have been at the bank for more than three years. Job satisfaction and stress outside the workplace are not significant.

V. DISCUSSION

The motivation of the current study is to extend the current literature on organizational citizenship behavior by reexamining employee attitudinal variables as they relate to the employees who work in a bank located in the Midwestern United States. Our study also explores a new variable that could impact organizational citizenship behavior: stress outside the workplace. Contrary to prior research, Hypothesis 1, which states that an employees satisfaction with the organization is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior, was not found to be significantly related to organizational citizenship behavior. This result differs from what has been found in previous research (Ghazzawi 2008), and a possible explanation for this could come from the current state of the economy. In the most recent Annual Job Satisfaction Survey documented on the website Salary.com, the results show that job security has become one of the most influential reasons why people are choosing to stay in their current jobs. This shows how in the unstable economy, employees are most concerned with having a secure job, and are therefore less likely to leave a job they are unhappy with. The economy could have

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an effect on the results collected from the employees at the bank, because their overall job satisfaction could be decreasing with the state of the economy. As hypothesized, our study supports previous research (Chen, Hackett, Law & Wang, 2005) that shows that an employees positive relationship with their supervisor is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior (Hypothesis 2). Hypothesis 3, which states that an employees fairness perceptions are positively related to organizational citizenship behavior, was not supported by our results. This goes against what research has previously shown (OReilly III & Chatman, 1986), which is that an employees fairness perceptions are positively related to their organizational citizenship behavior. It is possible that the wording of the questions addressing fairness perceptions, specifically interactional justice, could have influenced the responses. When the employees at the bank were reading the three questions in the survey that address interactional justice, the wording of the questions could have conveyed a negative meaning to them. For example, one of the questions states that, When decisions are made about you, your supervisor deals with you in a truthful manner. In hindsight, this question could imply to the participant that something negative has happened and there is a punitive action ahead of them. In addition, the current state of the economy could also heighten the amount of negativity the employees felt as they were answering the questions, and influenced their responses. Next, our study supports previous research (OReilly III & Chatman, 1986) that shows that an employees organizational commitment is positively related to

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organizational citizenship behavior (Hypothesis 4). When an employee internalizes the perspective of the organization, they will feel committed to the organization, and the results of this research confirm that as the employee feels more organizational commitment, they will participate in more extra role behavior. As hypothesized, our study also supports previous research (Bolino & Turnley, 2005) that shows that an employees job stress is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior (Hypothesis 5). While increasing extra role behavior is considered good for the organization, it is interesting to consider the negative impact it could have on the employee. These results affirm previous research that shows that when an employee takes the time to go above and beyond their job description, such as working extra hours or going to company events, this can increase the amount of stress they feel while at work. This has important implications for the mangers of organizations, which is discussed in the next section. Our exploratory Hypothesis 6A: Stress outside the workplace is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior and Hypothesis 6B: Stress outside the workplace is negatively related to organizational citizenship behavior, were not found to be significantly related to organizational citizenship behavior. This shows that while an employees job stress is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior, there does not appear to be a significant relationship between non-work stressors and organizational citizenship behavior. Lastly, as can be seen from Table 2, the length of time the employee has worked at the company impacts the significance of the employee variables. It is

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likely that when employees first start working at the company, they will have a strong sense of organizational commitment. They chose to work at the company, and are therefore likely to support its values and have the desire to see the company do well. At this point in time, however, they have not had the chance to develop a strong relationship with their supervisor, which could explain why this variable does not have a significant impact on their organizational citizenship behavior initially. They have also probably not been working long enough at the company to feel the impact of job stress as it relates to organizational citizenship behavior. They could participate in extra role activity, but not feel the impact of the stress as much because they have just recently started the job and havent had the time to get worn out. It also makes sense that organizational justice would not have as big of an impact on employees who have not been at a company for a long time. Organizational justice refers to the role of fairness as it relates to the workplace. It involves the ways employees decide if they are being treated fairly at their jobs, and the way this decision affects their work behavior (Moorman, 1991). Employees who have not been at a company a while arent as familiar with the way the company operates, and therefore would not have a strong understanding of how the company operates in order to determine how fairly they are being treated. Employees who have been at the company for a while, on the other hand, will have been there long enough to feel the impact of job stress that results from organizational citizenship behavior. They will also know more about how the

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company operates, and therefore have a more concrete understanding of how the companys way of doing business affects them, which will make them more likely to change their extra-role behavior according to how they perceive they are being treated.

VI. IMPLICATIONS

These findings have implications for both managers and researchers. In a study of organizational citizenship behavior, Smith, Organ and Near (1983) showed that many critical behaviors in organizations rely on acts of cooperation, altruism, and spontaneous unrewarded help from employees. This shows how organizational citizenship behavior plays a critical role in the functioning of an organization, which explains why managers must be concerned with ways to maximize and understand what creates organizational citizenship behavior. By testing previously tested employee attitudinal variables in the bank setting, the current research has confirmed the fact that an employees positive relationship with their supervisor is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior. It will be to the benefit of the organization if its supervisors are aware of this body of literature that supports their hard work to create strong positive relationships with their employees. As supervisors work harder to create good relationships with their subordinates, they can expect to see more organizational citizenship behavior.

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The results that support a positive relationship between an employees job stress and organizational citizenship behavior also have important implications. This is important because it suggests that, while generally organizational citizenship behavior is associated with having positive outcomes on the performance of the organization, it can also cause increased stress in the employee exhibiting the behavior. Managers should not take lightly the results of our research that confirms prior research showing that the more organizational citizenship behavior an employee exhibits, the more job stress he or she will have. Managers should be aware of the fact that extra-role behavior will add more stress to their employees work life, and attempt to alleviate any additional stress their employees may feel.

VII. LIMITATIONS

One limitation involves the fact that we did not measure organizational citizenship behavior from both the supervisor and employee perspective. Instead, we got our data from the employee responses to the survey. Another limitation we face is the fact that our study only included data from one bank. An additional limitation we face is, as previously discussed, the state of the current economy. The economy has had a particularly bad impact on the banking industry. As stated in the March 2009 edition of Fortune magazine, on February 20 of this year the shares of Bank of America and Citigroups stock fell to a combined market value of $26 billion, which is below the market value of Kraft Foods.

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According to the article, despite the governments efforts to help the banks, through giving them bailout money and guaranteeing their troubled assets, the banks are still doing very poorly. This current condition of the banks in America could have influenced the mentality of the bank employees who responded to our survey.

VIII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH

In spite of those limitations, our study adds to the current body of literature on organizational citizenship behavior by reexamining employee attitudinal variables as they relate to the employees who work in a bank located in the Midwestern United States. Our study also explores a new variable, in combination with the previously studied variables, that could impact organizational citizenship behavior: stress outside the workplace. Although we did not find this variable to be significant in the current study, there are opportunities for future research in this area. Future research could study this variable in more detail by creating a more detailed survey that addresses stress outside the workplace, and submitting the survey in a different setting. Future research could also test for a relationship between stress outside the workplace and extra role behavior by itself, rather than in combination with the previously researched variables. Research has shown that organizational citizenship behavior plays a big role in contributing to organizational functioning and performance. Research has also shown that because extra role behavior can make an organization a more attractive

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place in which to work, it can enhance an organizations ability to attract and retain good employees (Podsakoff et al., 2000). Therefore, research on what variables impact organizational citizenship behavior, and how they impact such behavior, is valuable to managers and employees of every organization.

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IX. REFERENCES

Bies, R.J. (1987). The predicament of injustice: The management of moral outrage. Research in Organizational Behavior, 9, 289-319. Bolino, M.C., & Turnley, W.H. (2005). The personal costs of citizenship behavior: The relationship between individual initiative and role overload, job stress, and work-family conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 740-748. Brandes, P., Dharwadkar, R., & Wheatley, K. (2004). Social exchanges within organizations and work outcomes. Group & Organization Management, 29, 276-301. Erturk, A. (2007). Increasing organizational citizenship behaviors of Turkish academicians. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22, 257-270. Ghazzawi, I (2008). Job satisfaction antecedents and consequences: A new conceptual framework and research agenda. The Business Review, 11, 1-10. Greenhaus, J.H., & Beutell, N.J. (1985). Sources of conflict between work and family roles. Academy of Management Review, 10, 76-88. Kelman, H.C. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2, 51-60. Moorman, R. (1991). Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors: Do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship? Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 845-855. Motowidlo, S.J., Packard, J.S., & Manning, M.R. (1986). Occupational stress: Its causes and consequences for job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 618-629. OReilly III, C., & Chatman, J. (1986). Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification, and internalization on prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 492-499. Organ, D.W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington Books.

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Organ, D.W. (1988b). A restatement of the satisfaction-performance hypothesis. Journal of Management, 14, 547-557. Organ, D.W., & Ryan, K. (1995). A meta-analytic review of attitudinal and dispositional predictors of organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology, 48, 775-802. Organ, D.W. (1990). The motivational basis of organizational citizenship behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior, 12, 43-72. Piccolo, R.F., & Colquitt, J.A. (2006). Transformational leadership and job behaviors: The mediating role of core job characteristics. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 327-340. Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S.B., Moorman, R.H., & Fetter, R. (1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 1(2), 107-142. Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Paine, J.B., & Bachrach, D.G (2000). Organizational citizenship behaviors: A critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research. Journal of Management, 26, 513-563. Scarpello, V., & Campbell, J.P. (1983). Job satisfaction: Are all the parts there? Personnel Psychology, 36, 577-600. Smith, C.A., Organ, D., & Near, J. (1983). Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature and antecedents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68, 653-663. Wang, H., Law, K.S., Hackett, R.D., Wang, D., & Chen, Z.X (2005). Leadermember exchange as a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and followers performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 420-432. Wanous, J.P., Reichers, A.E., & Hudy, M.J. (1997). Overall job satisfaction: How good are single-item measures? Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 247252.

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X. APPENDIX

The following table shows which question numbers in the online survey address which variable. The specific questions used in the online survey follow the table.

Table 3: Survey Questions Survey Question Number: 1 2-4 5-14 15-26 27 28 29 Variable: Job Satisfaction Interactional Justice Organizational Citizenship Behavior Organizational Commitment Relationship with Supervisor Stress at Home Job Stress

Instructions: Please respond to the following statements about your job using the scale below:

1 = VERY DISSATISFIED with this aspect of my job 2 = DISSATISFIED with this aspect of my job 3 = SLIGHTLY DISSATISFIED with this aspect of my job 4 = CAN'T DECIDE about this aspect of my job 5 = SLIGHTLY SATISFIED with this aspect of my job 6 = SATISFIED with this aspect of my job 7 = VERY SATISFIED with this aspect of my job

1. Overall, how satisfied are you with this organization as a place to work?

DIRECTIONS: The purpose of this section is to examine your perceptions about workplace fairness. In answering the following questions, think about the day-to-day

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decisions made about worker responsibilities, schedules, rewards, and general treatment. For each statement, indicate your AGREEMENT or DISAGREEMENT by using the following scale: 1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Slightly Disagree 4 = Neither Disagree Nor Agree 5 = Slightly Agree 6 = Agree 7 = Strongly Agree

2.

When decisions are made about you, your supervisor deals with you in a truthful manner.

3.

When decisions are made about you, your supervisor offers adequate justification for the decisions.

4.

When decisions are made about you, your supervisor clearly explains the decision to you.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

I help others who have been absent. I attend functions that are not required, but help the organization's image. I am mindful of how my behavior affects other people's jobs. I help others who have heavy workloads. I obey company rules and regulations even when no one is watching. I help orient new people even though it is not required. I am one of the most conscientious employees in this organization. I read and keep up with organizational announcements, memos, and so on. I am willing to help others who have work-related problems.

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14. 15.

I believe in giving an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. If the values of this organization were different, I would not be as attached to it as I currently am.

16.

Since joining this organization, my personal values and those of the organization's have become more similar.

17.

The reason I prefer this organization to others is because of what it stands for; its values.

18.

My attachment to this organization is primarily based on the similarity of my values and those represented by the organization.

19. 20. 21. 22.

What this organization stands for is important to me. I am proud to tell others that I am part of this organization. I talk up this organization to my friends as a great place to work. I feel a sense of "ownership" for this organization rather than just being an employee.

23.

Unless I am rewarded for it in some way, I see no reason to expend extra effort on behalf of this organization.

24.

How hard I work for the organization is directly linked to how much I am rewarded.

25.

My private views about this organization are different than those I express publicly.

26.

In order for me to get rewarded around here, it is necessary to express the right attitude.

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27.

Overall, I feel my supervisors management skills help make me a better contributor to the organization.

28. 29.

I feel a great deal of stress because of stressors at home. I feel a great deal of stress because of my job

Survey Questions for Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Separated by Type:

Four types of organizational citizenship behaviors, described by Organ (1988a) and previously defined in the current paper, were used in the study: Conscientiousness, civic virtue, courtesy, and altruism. The following lists the questions in the survey that address organizational citizenship behavior, broken down into their four parts: -Conscientiousness: 1. I obey company rules and regulations even when no one is watching. 2. I am one of the most conscientious employees in this organization. 3. I believe in giving an honest days work for an honest days pay. -Civic Virtue: 1. I attend functions that are not required, but help the organizations image. 2. I read and keep up with organizational announcements, memos, and so on. -Courtesy: 1. I am mindful of how my behavior affects other peoples jobs. -Altruism

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1. I help others who have been absent. 2. I help others who have heavy workloads. 3. I help orient new people even though it is not required. 4. I am willing to help others who have work-related problems.

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XI. TABLES Table 1 Pearson Correlation Coefficients Independent Variable Mean 1. Job Satisfaction 2. Relationship with Supervisor 3. Fairness Perception (Interactional Justice) 4. Organizational Commitment 5. Job Stress 6. Stress Outside the Workplace 7. Organizational Citizenship Behavior 5.88 5.55 5.53 5.51 3.92 2.94 6.32

s.d. 1.32 1.69 1.55 .90 1.87 1.90 .61

1 1.00 .55* .63* .70* -.30* -.04 .27*

2 .55* 1.00 .79* .58* -.29* .03 .29*

3 0.63* .79* 1.00 .59* -.24* .05 .22*

4 .70* .58* .59* 1.00 -.28* .03 .44*

5 -.30 -.29* -.24* -.28* 1.00 .13** -.04

6 -.04 .03 .05 .03 .13* 1.00 -.02

N=269 * Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) ** Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed)

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Table 2 Results of Regression Analysis (OCB) Independent Variable Job Satisfaction Relationship with Supervisor Fairness Perception (Interactional Justice) Organizational Commitment Job Stress Stress Outside the Workplace R Square Model 1 -.02 .09** -.08* .34*** .04* -.01 .22 Model 2 -.03 .02 -.01 .23** .02 -.03 .14 Model 3 -.03 .11** -.09* .41*** .04* -.00 .28

N=269 * p < .10 ** p < .05 *** p < .01 Model 1: Regression results for all employees Model 2: Regression results for employees at the company three years or less Model 3: Regression results for employees at the company more than three years